Rats make such a big impact in such a short time. Think about it. 3 years to us is just 1 month to a rattie. Make the most of your time with yours. Do not leave them in their cage all the time. Play and snuggle. 1 day to you is a months worth of love to them <3

This is such a touchy subject for so many. When is it time? There are a lot of resources out there to give you information on when quality of life is harder on our pets than allowing them to cross the rainbow bridge. Here is one I have seen shared on many of the rat groups I follow on facebook - Quality of Life Scale. Here is one more - Quality of Life Questionnaire. Often we have to make a hard decision for our furbabies. Do we allow them to continue to suffer or do we choose to euthanize? We have had to make this decision more times than I ever thought I would. That is what happens when you have 42 rats plus many babies over the years. It does not get easier over time. Here is a letter written by Veterinarian Anthony A Pilny - When it comes to euthanasia, the hardest part is deciding when.

Some vets will offer to euthanize an ill rat but the cost may be prohibitive to some. We have found out that the local humane society offers several options which include receiving either their body or ashes for home burial. When I called them a few weeks ago to find out their prices The Oregon Humane Society charges $5.00 for euthanasia of a rat and will give you their body to bury at home. The will charge $25 for you to receive their ashes back with options in between for them to dispose of the body. For some this may be a cheaper option than the vet. One thing you must ask is how they will do it? You have to make sure they do not do intracardiac (IC; in the heart) injection on a conscious rat. This is extremely painful for the rat and illegal in some states.

So often we do not know what to do with our beloved pets when they pass away. Many live in apartments or rent and do not have a resting place for their ratties once they crossed the rainbow bridge. Whether you choose to bury or have ashes to scatter there are a couple options I have heard a few do.

Bury them in the ground - when you have as many as we do we had to come up with an idea on how to put them in a smaller area. Here is a link to an idea we came up with - multiple burial

Bury them in a deep pot planting bulbs and ground cover or perennials that come back every year.

Cremate them and use same options above

Chose to allow the vet or humane society to dispose of the body

Since we have chosen to bury our beloved pets we have been looking for the right marker where they are buried. About a month ago we found a great site Hatchet Creek Pet Memorials that will actually engrave on a small marker. They have rat images (or any other pet you could imagine) to chose from or they can try to do a custom image from a photo you submit. We just received ours today. They were great to work with, sending us proofs and changing our little requests over 5 times. They were very patient and wanted to get it right for us. I highly recommend this company.